Adolescent Cardiorespiratory Fitness and the Trade-Off Between Atrial Fibrillation Risk and Cardiovascular Benefits: A Nationwide Sibling-Controlled Cohort Study

“Our study shows that there are good reasons to nuance and tone down the message, which has been widespread at times, that high levels of fitness or participating in races would pose a big risk to a person's cardiovascular health. The risk of atrial fibrillation is certainly not zero, but that said, the benefits are significantly greater.”

“We were then able to see that the age-dependent effect disappeared. Instead, we saw that the net effect was positive from the start, and that the benefits were greater as age increased. From a lifelong perspective, the findings show that the benefits of high levels of fitness outweigh the risks.”